The Foundation Trilogy

Isaac Asimov

Introduced by Paul KrugmanIllustrated by Alex Wells

Introduced by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. Drawing on contemporary politics, ancient history and mathematics Asimov's extraordinary science-fiction epic of the decline and fall of a Galactic Empire is as gripping as it is utterly unique.

The Foundation Trilogy

In 1941, Isaac Asimov, a young scientist and writer, was inspired by Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – and by contemporary global politics – to write an epic for his own age. He set out to tell of ‘the fall of the Galactic Empire and the return of feudalism, written from the viewpoint of someone in the secure days of the Second Galactic Empire’. The result was The Foundation Trilogy, an extraordinary science fiction epic that raises profound questions. Why do empires rise and fall? How is society best run? Can history be predicted? Asimov explores these ideas in a multi-layered, ingenious story that is as gripping today as when it was first published.

Production Details

3 volumes

Introduction by Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman

Illustrations by Alex Wells

Frontispiece and 6 colour illustrations per volume

Each book is three-quarter bound in buckram, with a paper side on the front board, printed with a design by Alex Wells

792 pages

Book size: 9" x 5¾"

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series

‘No one stirred the imagination of science fiction readers quite like Asimov ... [a] storyteller who, for so long, helped us define our visions of the future'LOS ANGELES TIMES

In 1941, Isaac Asimov, a young scientist and writer, was inspired by Edward Gibbon’sHistory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – and by contemporary global politics – to write an epic for his own age. He set out to tell of ‘the fall of the Galactic Empire and the return of feudalism, written from the viewpoint of someone in the secure days of the Second Galactic Empire’. The result was The Foundation Trilogy, an extraordinary science fiction epic that raises profound questions. Why do empires rise and fall? How is society best run? Can history be predicted? Asimov explores these ideas in a multi-layered, ingenious story that is as gripping today as when it was first published.

‘One of the world’s premier science fiction writers’NEWSDAY

Foundation

It is the heyday of the Galactic Empire. Nearly 25 million inhabited planets are
ruled by this civilisation, which has existed since time immemorial. But one man has
dared to predict the Empire's fall. Hari Seldon is a pioneer of the science of psychohistory,
which predicts the patterns of mass behaviour, and he has foreseen galactic war. He
establishes two Foundations; one to preserve Imperial knowledge, the other whose purpose
and location are unknown. As the Empire collapses, the First Foundation’s inhabitants
labour on their Encyclopedia Galactica – unaware that an even more important role
has been predicted for them by Seldon.

Foundation and Empire

In the second book, the Foundation has grown in power to rival the dying Empire.
With superior technology, and access to energy that other planets lack, it receives
tributes from the rest of the Galaxy, all in accordance with the Seldon Plan. But this plan
does not take into account the rise of a rogue individual: the Mule, a warlord with the
power to manipulate thoughts and emotion. All that stands between the Mule and total
conquest of the Galaxy is the mysterious Second Foundation; but its location is a secret
that others will die to protect.

Second Foundation

The mule has conquered the Galaxy – or most of it. The First Foundation’s leaders
have been either killed, or ‘Converted’. Yet the Mule is still haunted by the existence of the
Second Foundation. It is located at ‘Star’s End’ of the Galaxy; but what does that mean? And
does this other Foundation even exist? The Mule sends his most loyal general, a former resistance leader who is now brainwashed, and Bail Channis, an ambitious young man whose mind is still free, to investigate. But others are searching for it too, including the 14-year-old Arcadia Darell, who understands Seldon’s plan better than many of her elders …

A science fiction tour de force, in a new illustrated edition

'A unique masterpiece; there has never been anything quite like it’PAUL KRUGMAN

Paul Krugman is one of the world’s leading economists, a professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Science. In a fascinating introduction, written exclusively for this Folio Society edition, he describes how The Foundation Trilogy inspired him to study economics, since it was the closest thing to the ‘psychohistory’ of the novel. ‘I grew up wanting to be Hari Seldon, using my understanding of the mathematics of human behavior to save civilization.’ He observes that the ‘Foundation’ novels are ‘about society, not gadgets’, and that despite the concept of a rigorous social science that underpins them, they are also ‘suspenseful, engrossing, and if I may say, bracingly cynical’.

Alex Wells is a young British illustrator. In this, his first commission for The Folio Society, he has skilfully evoked both the futuristic feel of the series as well as the period in which it was written. He says, ‘I’ve always been an avid reader of science fiction and Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is among the best the genre has to offer. The biggest challenge was trying to convey an exciting science-fiction feel and look while staying true to the sophisticated universe Asimov created.’

Reviews

"Another classic science fiction work published by Folio. I love the illustrations and the quality of the books. A work of art on our shelves!"

Review by prelton on 22nd Oct 2016

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3/5

"It's good to see Folio publish this classic work of sf. I love the illustrations; however, the edition is marred, for me at least, by Paul Klugman's ignorant introduction, which asserts "Maybe the fir..." [read more]

"It's good to see Folio publish this classic work of sf. I love the illustrations; however, the edition is marred, for me at least, by Paul Klugman's ignorant introduction, which asserts "Maybe the first thing to say about'Foundation' is that it's not exactly science fiction". He then goes on to explain that the novels "are about society, not gadgets" (which is apparently why he thinks the series is not science fiction). There is of course a long tradition in sf that examines different aspects of society, from H. G. Wells' The Time Machine onwards. Asimov grew up as an sf fan, and knew the genre thoroughly by the time he came to write the Foundation series, which of course was originally published in an sf pulp magazine. It is acknowledged as one of the key works of 20th century science fiction, and for anyone to claim it isn't exactly sf is annoying to those of us who have some awareness of sf's history. There is, unfortunately, a long and ignoble tradition of people who haven't read much sf discovering classic sf works, finding they don't meet their cliched expectations, and declaring that therefore the work in question 'can't be sf' (because its too good!). I expected better of Folio. " [hide full review]

Review by amstorey on 14th Jul 2015

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5/5

"I've always been a fan of Asimov and I love the quality of this edition. Proud to have it on m shelves."